#thanks for this ask btw i really appreciate it

[ninjakk]

Hey!!

I recently saw someone claim that Wei Wuxian was starved of conversation on his journey to Yiling with Lan Wangji and Wen Ning and so board he needed to chat to people before they ascend the mountain. I hadn't really noticed this until it was mentioned. What do you think of that scene?

I love your meta and fics btw. You use your understanding of the novel in your writing and it's just *chef's kiss*

Hi anon 👋🏻

Personally, I've not seen any comments regarding the above - but we can certainly look at the text in question 😊

Let's take a look at the scene in question:

Several days later, they arrived in Yiling.

The Burial Mounds were less than five kilometers ahead of this small town. Although they didn’t know exactly what awaited them there, Wei Wuxian had a feeling it wasn’t anything good. But Lan Wangji was right by his side, his gait steady, his gaze cool. Wei Wuxian had never been one with any sense of crisis to begin with, and with the way Lan Wangji looked, he was even less likely to get nervous at all.

Passing through the small town of Yiling, he was awash in the sounds of the local accent. It was invigorating and incomparably endearing. While he wasn’t planning on buying anything, he couldn’t help but strike up conversations in the local dialect with the street vendors. Only after he’d had his fill of socializing did he get down to business.

“Hanguang-jun, you remember this town, right?”

7S translation

So the scene opens with WWX gushing over how safe and happy he feels around LWJ. He's just so thankful to have someone by his side, someone he can fully depend on and is there for him, should he need it. This very much echoes his thoughts from when they began their descent from the Cloud Recesses, at the start of their journey here. For someone nearing the place he met such a gruesome end at previously, he seems incredibly content and calm - all thanks to LWJ. So straight away, we are reminded of how WWX feels around the other man. It's there for a reason, to set the scene. WWX is relaxed and enjoying himself because he's with LWJ.

They have just arrived in a city he is very familiar with. It's the place he both lived as an orphan and frequented as a man while residing at the burial mounds. He is surrounded by the accent of his "home" for the first time in over 13 years and it's making him feel sentimental. I also think it's a great parallel between when WWX finally visits Lotus Pier in the coming chapters and how desolate and subdued the place has become since JC became sect leader.

I think the above reaction is very normal considering the emotional impact it obviously had on him. WWX has already stated on numerous occasions that LWJ makes him happy and he enjoys his company, but he's also very sociable and likes to look around markets and chat with vendors - there's even a scene in the novel which states as such and many other examples. Although WWX is running around chatting and exploring the stalls, LWJ is still by his side. Doing so does not subtract from his obvious enjoyment of having LWJ's unwavering presence.

We see more than enough evidence that WWX happily chats to LWJ and that he, in turn, even responds and asks questions also. There seems to be this mind-boggling misconception that LWJ literally doesn't speak, and if he does he's like some caveman that can't communicate effectively, when it's the exact opposite. LWJ talks when necessary and is very succinct with his words - he's a true gentleman of their time. Of course, in comparison to WWX, he's much less chatty - but when he does talk it's sincere and relevant. WWX loves this about him! He's also an incredible listener and doesn't miss a single thing WWX says, which WWX also appreciates! Hardly anyone listens to all his ramblings and holds them all so dearly!

It's funny, because although WWX chats to anyone and everyone, it's obvious he enjoys conversing with LWJ the most. He treasures the fact they are on the same wavelength and understand each other implicitly 🥰

Aww! Thank you so much anon! I'm glad you are enjoying my meta and fics ❤️

I hope I managed to answer your question! Have a lovely day 😘

[fairuzfan]

Your post about how many people are unknowingly falling for & spreading propaganda... yeah. I typed up a whole spiel of a comment on one of your posts the other day that I ended up deciding not to not actually post because it felt like detailing, but seriously. The amount of well meaning, genuinely anti-zionist people ignorantly sharing zionists' posts because they just don't pick up on the leading undertones is honestly more terrifying than than the amount of actual zionists in some ways.

I'm someone who was born into a doomsday cult, and seeing all these people falling for the exact same blatant (or so i thought lol) recruitment/manipulation tactics I've seen used by them my entire life has absolutely fucking terrifying. These are people who are actively trying to combat zionism, but I guess the general public is so uneducated about propaganda/cult tactics that what immediately reads as blatantly manipulative, misleading bullshit to me just doesn't even register as strange to most people. Not to be repetitive, but seriously: fucking terrifying.

There's so much focus on the way people/groups who want to manipulate you will use language of fear, but in this case especially, people need to realize they will almost always appeal to your compassion before they appeal to your fear.

It's all peace and love and happiness because that's what gets people in the door. You preach (or post) the mushy, happy, fun stuff that makes people feel good to draw them in, and you slowly start peppering in the ideas you actually want to lead them to believe later on once you've got them wanting to believe you.

This also has this added effect of helping the group or person's image. Even the people who you don't manage to draw in will have the impression of you as someone who runs their mouth 24/7 about how you're full of love and want the best for everyone, which is especially useful for when you inevitably want to frame yourself as the victim to demonize the people who will inevitably oppose you. If your first and only exposure to a person is seeing them calling for world peace and universal love, you are much more likely to be inclined to believe they (and by extension their cause) are the sympathetic, loving, peaceful good guys being unjustly targeted.

Sorry for rambling, but like... really. It won't always be something nefarious, of course--the vast majority of the the time, it won't be--but I think we would all be in a much better situation if people took it as a general rule of thumb that you should always be a little suspicious of overly vague talk about peace and love.

You're EXACTLY right. I really appreciate this message, because you put to words a lot of my inherent analysis of arguments and ideas. I like grew up with this rhetoric so it's easy to spot for me, but the way that people speak about "peace" as the overall goal when they're zionist is so blatant to me because there is no material change in the scenario they propose but rather a calmness where Palestinians are ignored.

And picking up on subtext of a lot of messages is something you have to have a muscle for kinda because of how subtle it is. The frightening part is, you're right, that the indoctrination part of zionism is the most harmful part because you appeal to their pathos — their fear, their sense of safety, etc — and you go on down the rabbit hole and slowly start being radicalized and pro-zionism or you might not even be pro-zionism 100% but enjoy... soft zionism as a mutual of mine put it once (if you read this and want to be tagged, lmk). Which soft zionism is the MAIN opinion in many liberal circles btw, its not an uncommon opinion.

I even remember once sharing a post by a zionist because i saw them talk about esims but when i went on their blog a few days later because something rubbed me the wrong way, I noticed their pinned and I was like "oh dam I gotta delete that other post" like that's how often this happens.

Idk, I try to combat this by putting sources or approaching from a standpoint of logical arguments rather than identity-based politics (although, sometimes i think there are some things that people who are a certain identity can be the only true experts on) so that I try to encourage actual engagement with ideas and walking them through thought processes rather than "I'm palestinian so just trust me."

Like even with my one fact checking list, idk if I succeeded but I wanted to emphasize that there are multiple factors you should consider when confronting ANY sort of information and should not blindly trust things. News sources have regularly burned or ignored Palestinians so I know a lot of us are really sensitive to these things, but I don't know! I hope people can engage with ideas more than just surface level thinking in general because it helps everyone when you actually interact with the point of view the other person is providing rather than just blindly trusting/distrusting people.

[wantbytaemin]

happy bday to my number one guy, king of my heart and the true big boss, M @linoguy 💖🤎

[lizardthelizard]

Every word you wrote about Tamara is just FACTS!!!!!!!!!!!! What I would have given for Grag & Tamara to be so broken because of magic, that they both had plans of revenge. Getting more people involved behind the scenes even. Tragic, yet understandable backstories and a real threat to Storybrooke from the outside world. The fears of some folks in town coming true (the whole E.T. thing Leroy mentioned in the hospital after Greg first showed up). The danger of having magic in a non-magical world.

EXACTLY!!! 'Tragic yet understandable' is the perfect way to phrase it, because OUAT is very good at including antagonists with these kinds of backstories (although, the effectiveness of this varies from character to character) and I'm sad that Tamara didn't get enough attention to receive the same treatment!

Okay, so, I'm gonna lay out some thoughts properly because why not:

(Disclaimer: I'm adding a read more because this got VERY out of hand. But please read on if anyone is interested in headcanoned Tamara backstory!)

(Second disclaimer: I've actually used this general backstory for Tamara in one of my fics before, although I wasn't able to go into quite as much detail at the time)

So, imagine. Tamara is a child (maybe 10 or 11). She has a happy family; parents that love her, a younger brother that she cares about a lot, a pet goldfish, whatever. And then imagine that, one night, 10 year old Tamara hears a noise from her brother's bedroom. She goes to investigate it but, when she opens the door, she finds herself frozen in shock. The window is wide open and her brother is floating in the middle of the room.

There's the faint sparkle of a glowing green dust on him and a dark shadow with bright, hollow eyes floats just beside him. Tamara pinches herself. She thinks she's dreaming. She's not. The shadowy figure spots her and before she can do a thing to stop it, the creature has taken her brother's hand and flown out the window with him. Maybe he cheerfully waves goodbye, maybe he doesn't even notice that she was there at all.

When Tamara finally works up the courage to move, she rushes to the window. Her brother is long gone, but there's a very fine sprinkle of green dust on the windowsill left in his absence.

Of course, she goes to tell her parents and, of course, they panic. Tamara tries to tell them what she saw but they naturally ignore any claims that she saw her brother flying or that the person that kidnapped him was nothing but a shadow with white, glowing eyes.

There was no sign of a break in from anywhere in the apartment. And the investigation team are baffled as to how anyone could have clambered in and out of the window when the room is situated on the third floor of the building. Tamara's brother never comes back and it's eventually considered a cold case.

Tamara has always considered herself honest, logical and responsible. For a long while, she insists that what she saw was true. It's only after she starts getting therapy that she begins to doubt things.

Therapy does little to fix things. Her family is completely broken. A year or so down the line, her parents divorce. Tamara starts to visit her Grandmother more and more often and she develops a very tight bond with her.

Tamara grows up and moves on from it all as best she can. She eventually stumbles into the same conspiracy group that Greg is a part of. They don't connect right away, but, after a couple of meet ups, they discover that they have a lot in common and also come to realise that, perhaps, they're the only two people in this group that have actually seen real magic.

They eventually confide in one another, talking about how 'magic' has ruined their lives. How it's hurt them in ways that no one else in this group that they're a part of will understand. They connect (idk, they can still get together romantically if they want, although I personally didn't see much chemistry between them and the show only really paired them up for shock value let's be honest) and they start talking about fairy tales and Storybrooke.

(Side note, since Greg is kind of aware of Regina being the Evil Queen (right? or is he not aware of that until he reaches Storybrooke again?) maybe he's even able to suggest that it could have been Peter Pan/Peter's Shadow that kidnapped her brother. I like the idea that he's very overly familiar with a lot of fairy tales and stories is more than willing to consider them in the real world ever since his interaction with Regina)

Anyway, I don't know HOW (and forgive me if I'm missing something from canon here, I'm guessing it maybe had something to do with Pan) but I like the idea of Greg in particular managing to track down either August or Neal (since, aside from Emma, those two are the links that lead back to Storybrooke). And, from here, the pair of them start working on plans to get to Storybrooke.

Greg and Tamara are both therefore stuck with these similar backstories, involving someone they loved being taken from them by someone magical. And ALSO similar in the sense that...no one believed them when they tried to tell the truth about this... Not only would this be about getting some kind of revenge (Greg wanting to get closure on his father and then kill Regina when he confirms that she did murder his dad, and Tamara desperate to find some trace of the shadow that took her brother), but it would also be about proving that they were right this entire time. That they weren't lying or 'crazy' or making things up. That magic is real and it's dangerous.

I guess the dilemma for Greg and Tamara is: how? How are they able to prove that magic actually exists, in a world where magic is unseen to those that don't believe in it? (This is a question that I will be pondering on, but not one that I'll be answering here. This ask has already gotten too long, ahahah)

(Still, there's one final thing I'd like to address)

Because, you see, there's something so deliciously tragic about Pan being the one to cause this trauma in the first place. For him to be so heavily responsible for Tamara's tragic childhood and then him continuing to have a chokehold on Tamara years later on. OUGH.

That said? yeah, I absolutely would have preferred if the Pan arc had been kept entirely separate from Greg and Tamara's (aka, they were there exclusively for their own reasons and not just because Pan said so). Greg and Tamara deserved their own arc that had nothing to do with Neverland. No 'home office', no dumb crystal that was triggered to explode the town or whatever (or! DO include those things! but tie them exclusively to John and Michael's story instead!)

I just!!!!!! I have way more feelings about Tamara (and to a lesser extent Greg/Owen) than I know I should and I'm getting a bit weird thinking about her lately!!!!!!

[oculusxcaro]

🧶 — any non-writing hobbies/interests?

I know you don’t reblog this but I wanted to send ya one!

munday asks! (unprompted but still cool!)

Not a problem at all, I'm actually flattered you sent this in! Truthfully I feel like a very boring person hence not doing a lot of munday stuff but since you asked, I'd be happy to talk about the silly little things I do! There's the usual stuff like reading, cooking and walking the dog but one obscure thing I like doing? Finding stuff while out on long walks.

Here's something I actually found today while walking to town to get some pinkies for R.orschach! This poor squashy Donatello had been dropped into some leaf litter close to the bus stop so I took him home and gave him a good soaking in some warm water and washing up liquid. Cleaned up a treat after that and now I don't know what to do with him. I've found quite a few things over the years since there are a lot of touristy places and kids drop shit all the time so here's a small collection of stuff I've taken back home after such finds.

No idea who the little girl is, maybe a rubber Anna from Frozen? There's a type of seadragon thing, a Winnie the Pooh spinning head thing with a bunch of different expressions when you press his heart, a plastic mountain lion(?), a hippo with snapping jaws and what I think is a Jurassic World Mosasaurus (even has a glow in the dark skeleton inside!) So yeah, I'm a bit of a packrat and just like to bring things home - pretty rocks, feathers, flowers and cuttings and the stuff kids drop since I'm sure I could donate it to charity at some point but I just like watching the hoard grow at this point. 😅 Keep your eyes open when you go out, sometimes you'll stumble across the most unexpected things!

[piescornerstore]

Do you take drawing request? If you do could you draw orange Addison and spamton?

Sure can! Have a Spamton pitching his idea of the perfect suit to Orange

[grokebaby]

Visualize this as everybody you've asked the Oc Sweets ask to playing a paddel game with the ask as the paddel ball. The ask has gone from person to person, and now it's arrived back to you!

If your OCs were sweets/candy, which ones would they be? Especially MewMew and Evilicus!!!

Ooh and as an extra question, what's their favourite candy?

Oooooogghhhhhh me when. That which I put forth comes back to meee yahoo heehe (the fact that this is the second ask about this topic haha). I am bonked on the head by the ball. Kiitos :)

I think Mewmew would likely be marshmallows due to the immaculate softness and sugary sweetness. Just the whole vibe. I personally can't stomach marshmallows bc they're wayyy to sweet for me hahah... Mew could also easily be like a smores! Crunchy (the tech parts) with soft and melty stuff (bio parts and fuel). Doesn't that just sound yummy :) lol

The marshmallow (or s'more) would also be fitting bc of how.. Heavy? It is. Like. So much fat and you can't eat too many before you have to stop. At least that's it for me so. That adds to the Mewmew vibe (bc m is nothing if not Heavy Class and tanky!)

Though, I could also make the argument for Mewmew being like, fruit gummies? I have this specific zoo animal gummy type in mind

Bc haahaa artificial thing resembling a real animal :) but still!

Evilicus... Hmmm... I really wanted to say some Halloween candy here bc of the vibes.. Ev is so edgy. But I feel like something else would represent them better..

Let's say. Cake. Let me paint the picture for you. It's at least two tiered. It's got sharp and detailed frosting. It's got hard meringue spikes. It's got decorations and maybe a surface sculpted of almond paste. It's got plums and other dried fruits in the batter. Chocolate sauce. Raspberry sauce - red as blood. The raspberry sauce has the faintest hint of chili. The whole thing is in purple and black. Tadah! Evilicus.

.. Or, after being defeated it's a little fruitcake with chocolate ganache and berry sauce thrown on top. Still relatively fancy but definitely comprised of less.

As for what those two would like, it's gonna be very different from what treats they would be!

Mewmew -..... Cat treats. But if you asked about human candies the answer is probably cookies or candied fruit. More likely cookies but Mewmew likes fruits and veggies in general.

Evilicus - Hard to say, they don't eat much.. 🤔 I think rock candy would be fun for them though! Just like those nefarious power crystals they used to acquire in their glory days. I could also say lollipops and then like, banana bread and tiger cake, and other less sweet but still desert baked goods.

[ink-the-artist]

currently sick i forgot to add this to the last ask but your art, to me, is indicative of the beauty you seenin the world and i think it sso fucking amazing how much you see and appreciate. your brain is gigantic and wrinkled like a pug. u are amazing

advbsghf like a pug 😭 thank u this is so nice. i dont always respond to nice asks bc Im not sure what to say so i just keep them like letters lol but i get very romantic about a lot of stuff (especially when my mental health is being normal) and I'm rly glad that comes across in my art

[gale-in-space]

What a wild night! I’m normal again tho

[fernlessbastard]

thank you fernless bastard for love perservering. good work you do here. really solid work. phenomenal artstyle and presence. can always count on you to give me back the feeling i got when i saw c!tntduo for the first time in 2021. please never stop

FUCK YEAH I'M CRINGE

(this is genuinely /pos, i aspire to be cringe and free and just draw/write about silly little gay people who refuse to admit they love each other more than they thought was possible)

Anyway you'll have to pry the pencil from my cold dead hands to make me stop. I don't think you guys realise: I've spent like 3 full years during a pretty formative period in human development hyperfixated on those two, and I share this specific mental illness (/j) with the love of my life and we constantly rile each other up. This obsession isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Tldr I'm happy you enjoy my art :]]

[ghostbeam]

Hey Oz, how are you ?

I was hoping to re read your piece « all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter » but I can’t seem to find it anymore, is it still accessible ?

Good day!

Hiiii I’m good!! I actually deleted that from tumblr in embarrassment whejwhwjjwkwje but it is still up on my ao3 if you’d like to read it!!<33

[ragnarlothcat]

YOure giving us an amnesia fic!!!??? Oh rag, you sly dog, you temptress!!! Very excited!!!

Perhaps I am 👀👀👀 I shan't say more but I am pleased to be both sly and a temptress! The zine is a very unusual situation for me because I've been done for a while now and whenever I write a fic normally I just fling onto AO3 within minutes of finishing so it's very fresh in my mind when people start reading it. When I get my copy of the zine I'll be experiencing everyone else's incredible writing and art for the first time (which is exciting enough) but I will also experience my own because the advantage of a goldfish brain is that I will have no idea what's coming.

[steelycunt]

hello beautiful do you already know what you’re gonna name the pride au? have you been enlightened? have you already had The vision…

hello bab!! annoyingly enough i do not..which is very strange for me and also frustrating because i LOVE coming up with titles and usually it is one of the first things i do!! i have a little list and ive been alternating them when i save drafts to my ao3…but i think the fact that none of them jump out at me especially means they’re probably not meant to be. i usually like to name things after songs/music but since the chapters are all named after songs (which are pretty locked in i think im quite happy with those) i don’t want to do that with the main title! which means coming up with something myself…id like something quite short and solid i’ve been playing around with stuff and looking into poetry etc but yeah! this is a very long way of simply saying, not yet : ^ ( unless something perfect comes to me i might leave it to the fate of a tumblr poll + then ignore the result of the tumblr poll except to see if that exposes in me which one im really rooting for. but i am still hoping i will come up with something where i know immediately that that’s what i want to call it : ^ )

[whack-patty]

What does Sneep Snoop’s voice sound like?

Thats a GREAT QUESTION

In the past we've joked about Sneep sounding like JK Simmons! My buddy even did a hilarious little diddy of it and I think about it all the time lol

If I had to give him a different voice, I might do something deep but not quite as deep as that, and a liiiittle bit crunchier. Maybe with some funny little voice cracks and squeaks so he sounds a little chirpy like a bird 🤔

Though to be honest anything goes cuz he's a funny little guy who could probably do whatever

Here's a cursed sneep face for u bc i like to add art to my asks lol enjoy

[pepprs]

i am rooting for u so hard. every post u make abt the struggle i send a lil more love 💖 going thru it all the time is hell but truly u are growing so much, tho it may not be worth all the pain, it is worth something & u get to take that with u when all the bullshit is gone

im putting this message in a little heart shaped drawer in my heart (yeah.) and giving u the hugest hug right after i close the drawer. can u feel it 💌🫂❣️❣️❣️❣️

[alister312]

Hello there! I was just reading your gregstophe headcanon post & I love how Christophe is very confidant in the kitchen! I was doing a bit of cooking myself tonight & wondered: would Christophe be into gardening for food?

OOH this is such an interesting thought to explore, as I love both gardener Christophe and chef Christophe 👀💕!!

so, I do hesitate a bit to immediately say yes if only because I feel Christophe doesn’t really eat a ton of veggies 😅 French cooking is a cuisine with a lot of heavy ingredients like meats and dairy and whatnot… there are lots of herbs involved though and I think it’d make sense that Christophe would always use fresh herbs. even if he’s living in a shitty apartment he can grow those in the windowsill.

now as for the Creole side of Christophe’s cooking heritage (per my headcanon), I could definitely see him growing easy stuff like okra and onions. I don’t think it would be til much later in his life that he has a lot of space to grow a lot of stuff. Gregory may want to big house but Christophe is content with just a little space to fully call his own.

I’ll be honest, him growing veggies might be the only way to guarantee he eats them frequently bc otherwise it might not occur to him. so maybe he should grow stuff to eat.